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British Court Allows Appeal of Order Barring Church's Anti-Gay Ad

By Howard M. Friedman

In Belfast, Northern Ireland, the Sandown Free Presbyterian Church has been granted permission by a High Court judge to appeal a ruling against it issued in April by the U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority. According to yesterday's Belfast Telegraph the court concluded that ASA order may have infringed the church's rights to religious belief and freedom of expression. At issue is an ad taken out by the church in the Belfast News Letter objecting to last year's gay pride parade. It was captioned: "The Word of God Against Sodomy." ASA ruled that the ad should not appear again in its current form because it violated a provision of Britain's advertising code that bars ads likely to cause serious or widespread offence on the basis of sexual orientation. The court, however, urged both sides to seek a compromise, saying: "It would seem there's not a great deal of change required in the wording and tone, perhaps, in order to meet the objections made by the ASA."

Full post as published by Religion Clause on September 13, 2009 (boomark / email).